Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer

[chesilbeach]

Everything Is Illuminated by Jonathan Safran Foer is the story of an American author who travels to the Ukraine to try to track down the people who helped save his grandfather during the second world war, it's told in three formats. Firstly, there is the story of the journey told by Alex, the young Ukranian man who acts as guide and translator for the author, and these sections are written as if Alex had written them himself in his broken English translation. In addition, Alex also writes letters to the author that accompany his chapters as he sends them to America. Finally, we are also told the story of the authors ancestors are told from the eighteen century onwards.

 

I found the "translated" sections very hard going, and made slow progress as I was constantly trying to unravel the sentences and translate them into proper English myself. Having said that, at times they were in turns charming, funny and heartbreaking, but initially, I did have to force myself to keep reading as I waded through these chapters.

 

On the other hand, I loved reading the historical chapters. Full of beauty and melancholy, I was able to slow down and savour these chapter, all the time guessing that it was likely to build to some tragedy at the end.

 

Having said that, the final chapter is possibly my favourite of the book despite being another translated letter, and while sad to read, left me with a feeling of hope for the future of the characters, and felt like a fitting end to the book.

 

I'm glad I read it, as it's one I've been meaning to read for a while, but I have to say, I read his second book, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close a few years ago, and for me, it was a much more satisfying book to read, even though it had a similarly quirkiness to its style and language. Definitely an author I will look to read again in the future.

Edited February 9, 2011 by chesilbeach

[Weave]

Great review Chesil, like your good self, 'Everything Is Illuminated' is a book I have been meaning to read for awhile, I'm glad you enjoyed it

[frankie]

I've never read anything by Jonathan Safran Foer before but I was curious about this novel and read it for the Rory Gilmore reading group challenge. Just like chesilbeach, I first struggled with the language, while I was reading Alex's letters to Jonathan in English. I actually read the novel in Finnish and initially I thought that the translation was very poor and the translator had a weird choice of verbs and adjectives. I discussed this problem with fellow Roryites and found out that their English editions were just as wacky, and I realised that that's how the author had meant it: Alex's English is not perfect and this shows because he's writing to Alex in this foreign language.

 

Personally, I enjoyed the parts where Jonathan, Alex and Alex's Grandfather and his dog were travelling in Ukraine. The language is so quirky and it made me laugh out loud so many times. I also loved reading how two different cultures and people's cultural traits clash and how these people are going to work their way around it. For example,

Jonathan is a vegetarian and he has problems ordering food in the meat-loving restaurants/hotels in Ukraine. Alex and his Grandpa are embarrassed that Jonathan is making such a 'scene' about his eating habits wherever they go that one morning they decide to go and eat breakfast without him, leaving Jonathan sleeping in his hotel room. When Jonathan gets up and wants to go for breakfast, Alex says that there's no need for that, they have too much to do during the day that they should skip the breakfast and start they're journey

 

While I enjoyed reading about Jonathan's ancestors, I confess I sometimes had a hard time putting the whole picture together. I found it difficult to remember the names of his relatives, and how they were all related to each other: who is who's predecessor and so on. I even contemplated reading the history part on it's own straight after I had finished the novel, to achieve a better understanding of it.

 

I've had a couple of Jewish literature classes in uni and eventhough the stories are always sad and terrible, I still like reading them because that history is still such a significant factor in so many people's lives and it's still a topical issue for so many. It will never go away and it will never be forgotten.

 

Thinking back, what perhaps struck me most about the novel is how close Alex becomes with his Grandpa during their journey and how Grandpa confides in him about his past at the end. This is especially intriguing when we see how different Grandpa's relationship is with his own son, Alex's father. Sometimes a mutual understanding in a family skips a generation and I wonder why that is.

 

Overall, I'm really happy I read the book as I really liked it, and I will definitely read Foer's Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

Edited February 13, 2011 by frankie

[nursenblack]

I should really look for this book. I saw the film and loved it. I didn't even know that it was an adaptation of a book until I saw it on here. It seems like overall everyone enjoyed it.

[shirleyz]

I've started reading this over the last few days, and I must admit I'm finding it quite tough to follow through the story (still in the very initial pages...) thanks for your reviews - will persist and hope to enjoy it as much as you did